1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lids for refuse containers of the general type having a swinging lid door. More specifically, the refuse container lid is of a domed shape and has a lower shape and dimension suited to fit over the upper rim of a receptacle.
2. The Prior Art
Refuse containers having lids are common commercial and household items. Typically, such containers comprise a receptacle and a lid component adapted to fit over the upper rim of the receptacle.
Refuse containers are frequently used out of doors where they are exposed to the elements and in particular rain. In order to make the refuse container resistant to rain water entering the receptacle and its contents, specialized lid configurations have been developed and commercially sold.
In one such lid configuration, a lid is provided with a domed external shape in order to direct rain water thereover to the outside of the receptacle. A recess is formed in a forward portion of the domed lid and terminates at an inward vertical opening. To access the receptacle, a pivotal door is vertically mounted to the domed lid, within the recess, and swings inward and outward to open and close the lid opening. The lid door, being mounted in a vertical orientation, intersects the floor of the recess at a right angle. Spring biased, the lid, once released, swings back into its vertical orientation to close off the lid opening.
The lid door is provided with flanges along its perimeter edge, which abut against internal surfaces defining the lid opening. The pivot spring serves to bias those flanges against the internal surfaces, whereby deterring the entry of rain water around the lid door. However, because the door is vertical and the seal created by the flanges is imperfect, such lids still admit more than a satisfactory level of rain water into the receptacle. Rain can run down the face of the lid door, and can also run down the surfaces of the lid which define the recess, and gain access to the internal receptacle by seeping between the edges of the door and the lid.
A further shortcoming to conventionally configured domed lid configurations results from the vertically oriented swing door. The door and the floor of the recess creates a right angled protrusion into the interior of the lid which prevents multiple lids from being stacked within each other. This shortcoming adds significantly to the shipping costs of the lids and also makes them more inconvenient to display at point of purchase.